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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

32 Weeks! (and 2 days)

Whew, have we been busy! With my ever expanding belly and all the work I have to do at school, this blog just kind of takes a backseat.Let's see: I am 32 weeks pregnant and am officially considered 8 months pregnant. Wow. 80% of the pregnancy is completed, now we just have a measly 20% left. When you think of it that way, it really doesn't seem like a long time until I deliver, however, I have a feeling this last 20% or eight weeks will probably be the most significant. Earlier I mentioned I had entered the "cute" phase of pregnancy; well, you'll all be happy to know I am OUT of that phase and into the "not so cute" phase. It's not cute when you struggle to get off the couch, when you lose the will to just get up and do it and have your husband do everything (but he is so awesome and takes it in stride), it's not cute when your back hurts all the time, not cute when you wake up at 3am to use the bathroom and realize you are famished (however I did learn that when hungry and sleepy I will choose sleep). Nope, I'm not so cute these days.

Let me tell you who is cute: my baby. She is moving quite a bit and brings so much joy to my day. I am so ready for her to arrive, but again, not only do we have a lot to do before she gets here, she has a lot to do too. So we wait and I know that this "not so cute" business will be over before I know it.

We did get to tour the hospital a week ago. I had a few preconceived notions before touring that were completely destroyed when we toured. First of all, I expected there to be laboring women all over the place, yelling their heads off. Nope. There was no one in triage, one gal in L&D and two ladies in post partum. We're talking ghost town. Fine by me, I say. All the nurses seemed really nice though and all were women! Yay. My doctor is male and I don't need any other males looking me over while I'm squeezing a baby out. Not even my husband will be looking. We have a rule: above the elbow only.

During childbirth class I learned that if your water breaks, you go to the hospital immediately. We also learned that only 10% of women have their water break. So, that means the other 90% have to wait until the contractions intensify before they go. My question was, how long do you wait? The NP said that normally women wait until their contractions are 5 minutes apart but to double check with your doctor because he or she may have a different rule. Well, I am one to ask right away, so I asked my doctor at my next appointment. He said he wants me to wait until the contractions are 2-3 minutes apart. Good Lord is what I said. So, it looks like I will be laboring a LONG time at home unless my water breaks.

As far as labor goes, I'm not actually nervous. I know there will be pain, but I also know that if I'm calm and accept what's happening, it will make things a little easier. Not so much less painful, but this process is meant to be painful. It does not have to be stressful, so I'm hoping to be as calm as possible. But one thing that does make me nervous is going into labor at school. I am in charge of 16 beautiful children and I don't want them to be scared. I also love the people I work with, but they will want to take me to the hospital right away and probably won't let me drive. I also get anxious thinking about if my water breaks in front of my students. I will forever go down in history as the teacher who wet her pants in class. That's how they'll remember me, I just know it.

I know it's pointless fretting over small issues like this, as God is in control and he has picked the date that my baby will get here, he knows what I will go through and he knows I can handle it. So I can, and I will. But from time to time, I just can't help but ponder.